WildEagles: August 2023

One more NARA video, spotted in the "Showakan Digital Archive" by "Shu".

The colours of the following stills from the video were adjusted by our good friend Devlin Chouinard.

The video begins with a closeup of a bomber cockpit. I believe this is the cockpit of a Mitsubishi Ki-67 "Hiryu" (Peggy) bomber. (Actually a Nakajima Ki-49 "Donryu" (Hellen) cockpit. See follow-up post)

Then continues with an extremely rare view of the fuselage behind the pilots' seats. (Nakajima Ki-49 "Donryu" (Hellen). See follow-up post)

Note the "hairanshoku" (gray indigo or dark blue) paint prevalent on all surfaces but also the occasional green of various parts, probably manufactured and painted by subcontractors.

(Mitsubishi Ki-67 "Hiryu" (Peggy) bomber cockpit. See follow-up post)

Then the video moves on to a pair of Tachikawa Ki-9 "Akatonbo" (Spruce) trainers.

Note that the one in the background to the right has a fuel tank in the rear seat, a clear indication that they were assigned to a "special attack" unit. Note that the paint has been completely scratched off at some parts leaving visible the bare canvas.

Suddenly we see a Showa L2D getting its engines started. There is something that looks like a kanji/name on the side of the open cockpit window but it could be just dirt. Difficult to say.

In any case, it's a "Green Cross" aircraft but difficult to figure out what mission it flew.

Another Showa L2D in combat colours that maybe crash-landed.

And then the camera moves to a pair of Mitsubishi A6M2-K trainers.

Here's a b/w photo from NARA, a more clear view of the above still.

The two trainers belonged to the Genzan Kokutai, indicated by the "ゲン" (GEN) on the tail.

Note the Isuzu fuel truck, but unfortunately I can't identify the car on the right side of the photo.

In the background, there is a good collection of IJAAF aircraft , mostly Kawasaki Ki-48 "Lilly" bombers belonging to the 90 Sentai.

After a brief return to the Showa transports...

...we get a beautiful "Hiryu" in the foreground...

...with more "Spruce" trainers in the background.

Another view of the "Hiryu", this time with a Nakajima Ki-49 "Donryu" (Helen) beside it.

Then we get a glimpse of a rather rare aircraft type...

...a Kokusai Ki-76 Command Liaison aircraft with the very unique anti-glare panel.

The camera finally returns to the "Donryu".

The particular bomber belonged to the 95th Sentai, as indicated by the slanted band in front of the tail. The fact that it's yellow means that it was flown by the 3rd Chutai. Note the most interesting green camo with brown blotches in the middle. We have found an aircraft of the same unit with the same camo pattern in the Philippines: here.

Note what looks like a "P" on the nose side. 95 Sentai "Helens" often had a number there to indicate the individual bomber but a P is most unusual. Perhaps it's just a scratch...